Whether these lists of environmental issues are contextual or are an intrinsic aspect of the HRM concept may be more than a matter of semantics. It is noteworthy that it is in general the American authors who have seen it as contextual and the European authors who have wanted to include these areas within the concept. Going down the route of seeing these issues as contextual has led to the often very detailed, case-study based, and sophisticated, attempts to create a ‘contingency’ approach to HRM. Thus Schuler (1989), a leading figure in this movement, has attempted to link HRM strategies to life-cycle models (as did Fombrun and Tichy 1983 and Kochan and Barocci 1985) and to Porter’s models for achieving competitive advantage in different industry conditions (Schuler and Jackson 1987; Schuler 1989). Other authors have argued that HRM should be contingent upon markets (Baird et al. 1983; Dertouzos et al 1989) and upon groupings within organizational levels (Lorange and Murphy 1984). The examples could be multiplied (see also Macmillan and Schuler 1985 where the reciprocity of HR and strategy is clearly stated; Lengnick-Hall and Lengnick Hall 1988; Schuler and Macmillan 1984; Schuler 1991).